(a) Technical Field
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for controlling cooling of a battery of an environment-friendly vehicle, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method for controlling cooling of a battery of an environment-friendly vehicle which can perform backup control for operating a cooling fan motor when a Controller Area Network (CAN) communication is abnormal, by disposing a motor controller configured to control cooling of the battery and a control element of a Battery Management System (BMS).
(b) Background Art
A motor mounted within environment-friendly vehicles such as a hybrid electric vehicle, an electric vehicle, and a fuel cell vehicle is often provided as at least one driving power source in these types of vehicles. As such, a high voltage battery is typically mounted within the vehicles as well as a source of power for the motor. In order to efficiently operate the high voltage battery and the motor, a battery cooling system and motor cooling system (using a coolant such as water) is also provided to prevent the battery and the motor from overheating.
In particular, the battery cooling system is important to the overall operation of the vehicular drivetrain in that it maintains the battery at an optimum performance by cooling the battery to a predetermined temperature, since the battery is one of the most basic and important components in environment-friendly vehicles.
For example, one configuration and operation of a battery cooling control system is according to the related art will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The battery cooling control system according to the related art includes a cooling fan motor controller 20 that controls a cooling fan for cooling a battery and a motor to drive the cooling fan, and a battery management system 10 (hereinafter, referred to as BMS). The BMS is a high level controller which may be configured to controller a number of other controllers or components in the battery cooling system.
Additionally, the cooling fan motor controller 20 in FIGS. 1 and 2 has integrated therein a cooling fan relay 22 that is connected to an auxiliary battery power source, a rotation speed detection sensor 24 that detects a rotation speed (RPM) of a cooling fan motor 25, and a motor driving controller 26 that operates the cooling fan motor 25. More specifically, the rotation speed detection sensor 24 is often mounted to the cooling fan motor controller 20 as a separate PCB type sensor.
Likewise a cooling fan controller 14 is also integrated into the BMS which includes a power circuit 11 and a CAN communication adaptor 12 for a CAN communication. In particular, the cooling fan controller 14 of the BMS 10 includes a relay controller 16 connected to the relay 22 of the cooling fan motor controller 20 through wires 28, and a speed controller 18 connected to the motor driving controller 26 and the rotation speed detection sensor 24 of the cooling fan motor controller 20 through wires 28 to control a rotation speed of the motor.
During operation, the relay controller 16 of the cooling fan controller 14 controls an on/off operation of the relay 22 of the cooling fan motor controller 20, and the speed controller 18 of the cooling fan controller 14 receives a signal from the rotation speed detection sensor 24 of the cooling fan motor controller 20 which specifies or indicates to the cooling fan controller the proper motor speed control signal that should be provided to the motor driving controller 26.
However, the battery cooling control system according to the related art has the following problems.
As shown in FIG. 2, when wire connecting the relay 22 of the cooling fan motor controller 20 and the relay controller 16 of the BMS 10, and wires connecting the motor driving controller 26 of the cooling fan motor controller 20 and the speed controller 18 of the BMS 10 are broken, it is impossible to control an on/off operation of the relay 22 and to transmit a speed control signal (pulse width modulating (PWM) signal) from the speed controller 18 to the motor driving controller 26. As the on/off control of the relay 22 and the motor speed control cannot be performed, it may be impossible to drive the cooling fan motor and accordingly the battery may become overheated.
Further, when the relay of the cooling fan motor controller is switched on or off in a normal state, noise is generated.
Furthermore, an expensive PCB type rotation speed detection sensor for detecting a motor speed is currently separately mounted on an interior surface of the cooling fan motor controller, thus increasing the manufacturing cost.